Lisa Bondurant

I spend my time raising kids, gathering eggs, cutting wood, scoping out trees for tapping, making syrup in the last days of winter, watching my garden NOT grow in the summer, writing, wishing that there were more hours on the clock for sleeping.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

The Layered Garden So Far

See the large pieces of cardboard? I add paper or cardboard as I get it to control weeds and then begin throwing layers of straw & poultry litter or weeds on to it to begin a new layer.

Tomatoes basil & parsley

Peas, beans & bright lite Swiss Chard

shallots

tomatoes & eggplant (under the cheese cloth)

my garden helpers cleaning up bugs from the turnips.

You do have to watch them and make sure they stick to bugs and not eat the plants too much.

Now for pics taken just this week...

Tomatoes, basil & parsley are really taking off!

The largest squash leaves on the largest squash plant I have ever grown

First picking

Time to fry blossoms

Honestly the tomatoes are out of hand, I can not tie them up often enough.

They are up to my shoulders.I know what you are thinking..."But she is soo short!"

Cantaloupe are doing fantastic! Planted in a layered patch then under black plastic. Hope they all don't ripen at once.

Now for the strawberries that were little pathetic plants being thrown out at a local store, now a strawberry hedge.

Wow! They love the layered garden!

Marigolds are huge, over a foot wide from a single plant, but dwarfed by the tomatoes

These were left overs planted in a newly layered patch. The layers were shallow but the flowers have done well anyway.

The red raspberries sent to me from my Uncle & Aunt in Pa. are really doing well.

Thanks so much to them!

The ducks are mostly penned in the center of the garden now and chickens border the one side, so bugs are at a minimum. Plus we water the beds from the water from the duck pond, added fertilizer! Overall it is a very low maintenance garden and everything is linked together in support of each other. The most successful garden I have grown in the last several years of drought and bugs.